Elma

Hopefully no injuries. Couple of knocks there but nothing obvious at the moment.

He's got to say 70/30 cross in the post match.

Interestingly, Kevin Day was on Talksport earlier talking about Palace and their form. Had similar comments to us about our recent form, saying they are getting results but not playing particularly well. Said they had a purple patch after Xmas and their 2-0 win at Fulham in late February was as complete a Palace performance he's seen. They followed that up by beating Villa 4-1. Apparently the three week enforced break they had due to tonight's game being moved (with us being in the cup final) broke their rythym, and they've not been as fluid since.

Pope and Murphy about to be interviewed on TalkSport (12:30 on Weds).

Maybe they were just doing a dry run for next season?

If Villa beat us they'll be on 57 with five games left, so it would be four wins out of five (i.e. losing to Man City but beating Fulham, Bournemouth, Spurs and Man U would take them to 69).

If we win our four home games and avoid defeat to Villa, that's 69. Villa would need to win all of their remaining games, including at Man City, to get to 70. Chelsea aren't getting to 70. They'd need to win their other five games (excluding the game against us) to reach 70, and they've got Liverpool at home yet and Forest away last day. I suspect they may even drop points this weekend at Fulham who will respond to last night. Big ask, but a win tomorrow and a draw on Saturday (or the other way round) and the odds are hugely stacked in our favour.

Keegan used to do the same. Soon as the players went in after the warm up he'd have them pile water onto the pitch before home games, and then we'd come out expecting it and the opposition would be slipping all over for 10-15 mins. Interesting if we're targeting specific areas of the pitch these days.

The first two are playing under good managers. I'll bang this drum till the day I die. The stats say managers only have a nominal impact on results and improved results more closely correlate with spend (both on transfer fees and wages). However, the research on this focusses on the time after a manager has been appointed and the new manager bounce. Of course spend is very important, but good coaches can have a huge impact on results, and simultaneously maximise the impact and therefore value of individual players within the squad. It's also important that managers have a significant say in who comes in. I had steam coming out of my ears watching Ashley buying cheap-ish players and then throwing them at the (generally) inept managers who were either free or cheap (and in Graham Carr's address book) when our top job became vacant.

Was thinking the same. Beat Ipswich and that's 39 points from 42 against the bottom seven. We've always avoided complacency in those games under Eddie.

…and Tino, Murphy and Barnes combine 😂

Beautiful goal. Was expecting a flag on the first ball but no, all good. Bizarre feeling. Loving watching Palace pick City apart while it simultaneously ramps up my nervousness for Wednesday. 😂

Brighton nailed on for the win. The others I'm not so sure. If pushed I'd fancy Forest, and I think City might do enough. Brentford really could get something at Arsenal if Arsenal rest too many. Bizarrely I've a sneaky feeling it won't be as easy for Villa as it looks on paper.

Oddschecker already offer odds without the "Big 7", which has added us to the traditional 6. We've beaten Arsenal three times this year without conceding a goal and they'll have Gabriel out. If we're pretty much full strength when we go there I'd fancy us to get something.

Yeah - appreciate the original comment was about starting places but I only said I'd take Romero and VDV in the squad. When fit (and that applies to both) VDV and Botman would be the best two centre-backs and Eddie probably wouldn't touch Romero anyway due to attitude. Am a big fan of Kulusevski and think he'd be great under Eddie. My pet hate is that comments on the BBC/social media etc usually say "the players aren't good enough" when a team like Spurs or Man U underperform, and undoubtedly their recruitment has been shocking. However, people never seem to recognise the impact good coaching can also have, and how much can be done with a close-knit group and confidence. Sometimes it isn't as simple as saying player X is better than player Y, based upon a team's position or even a player's individual form, when it's usually more complex than that and depends upon how that player suits the system the team is using and the individual role they have. That's the challenge the recruitment team have in identifying the raw skillset in a player that will translate into performance in Eddie's system, whilst also balancing that with the player's personality. They've done well so far. If you want success, recruit a good coach who can improve players, let him have a significant (if not final) say on transfers within budget, and give him time to get on with it. Something Mike Ashley absolutely failed to understand.

Quote on TheFightingCock about us while watching our game last night: "They are still boring and predictable to watch but yeah that starting 11 is clear of us by a good margin right now. Players we have that start for them: Vicario Romero VDV Spence Kulusevski Maybe Maddison depending on the system Players they have that would start for us: Tonali Bruno Maybe Joelinton but he’s overrated Isak Gordon Actually closer than I thought tbh" Funny that when fans of other teams do this sort of thing they don't rate our players, but then Eddie rarely gets any credit either. Got to be one or the other surely? It also shows how much Livramento and Hall are flying under the radar. I think Schar and Burn are underrated too although I'd definitely take Romero and a fit VDV in our squad. Everyone's forgotten about Botman obviously

Scores stay like this and we can almost guarantee Europa League by winning on Monday and then winning the game in hand (unless Palace win the cup). Would effectively create a nine point gap to eighth with seven games left. Palace hanging on with nine players though.

As I said in the match thread, I think it was an instinctive strike at goal intended to cause as much havoc as possible. He didn't have much time to think and the glance into the box would have shown only one poorly placed black and white shirt (Wilson). He hit it perfectly and got a bit lucky, but he deserves the credit for it. It certainly wasn't a cross in the traditional sense from his body shape and the way he struck the ball. You can't include it in those lofted crosses that drift in over the keeper's head and for that reason it should be in the reckoning for goal of the season.

Agree that we could have done with them dropping points yesterday, but they still aren't in great form from what I've seen and they technically do have the most difficult run-in of the teams mentioned when you compare the league position and PPG that their remaining opponents have. Plus, they've still to come to St James'. Different techniques used by these two, but similar outcomes - I suspect that unless we have a phenomenally good run-in then Forest and Man City will be difficult to overhaul. https://theanalyst.com/2025/03/premier-league-fixture-difficulty-last-nine-games https://www.premierleague.com/news/4272511

Very true. 😂 For what it's worth I wasn't suggesting we have it tough next week either. Just that this is a weekend we could steal a march.

This weekend is huge for us. Brighton, Man City and Chelsea are all away in derby games. Villa and Forest playing each other and Fulham have Liverpool. The following weekend they are all at home to teams 12th or lower (Villa are away but it's Southampton) while we're at home to Man U, so we need to make hay while the sun shines.

Gabriel confirmed out for the season.

Looking at the goal again, I think Tonali's comments of 70/30 were about right. He was running out of space, glanced up and saw only really Wilson in the box (there were two others on the edge), and made the intelligent split-second decision to hammer it in on goal, as a floated cross would have easily been claimed by Flekken. It was a percentage ball. Did he mean to hit that postage stamp at the near post - no. Was it meant as a cross for a teammate - no. With the pace on the ball he was likely hoping for a defender to gamble, a mix-up or the keeper to spill it. It also had a slight chance of finding the net directly, which thankfully for us it did. For that reason, in my opinion he deserves full credit for it. He played a cracking ball in with great technique and got a little lucky.

That's a fair point. Eddie seems to have Emery's number (that 3-0 reverse aside), and Arsenal panic whenever they play us now. I'd be hoping for seven from those too. Strangely though, last night was my biggest worry with regard to home games. Palace would be the other one. We seem to turn up for games against the bigger names. Seven from those away games means we can probably afford to go 3-1-1 at home for fifth allowing for a slip up, provided it's only one.

I just don't really watch much on YouTube at all (anything I do watch is usually because my other half is watching it or it's NUFC footage). I've seen friends go down so many rabbit holes and come out with some weird conspiracy stuff because some random on YouTube says it's true. Yet when I question who the person is, who is behind them them, or do they know their history/motivations etc they haven't a clue. Mainstream media isn't much better like - but at least it's easier to work out the money/political motivation behind what you're reading and make a judgement based on that. Plus you have IPSO and OFCOM to oversee it.